Friday, December 7, 2012

Let's talk laundry

These are the interesting thoughts swirling around in my mind.  

There are lots of things different about the laundry here in Ohio.  As I mentioned before my washer and dryer are downstairs in the basement.  I actually have to make time to walk down there and DO laundry. (In TX the washer and dryer were right next to the kitchen = super convenient )  I'm good with the basement now.  (a few weeks ago it made me tremble)  Having a radio makes it all better.  When I wash, dry and fold I dance around a bit.  It isn't so bad after all, but different. 


The weirdest thing about doing laundry here is the lint.  I'm trying to figure out why the dryer produces so much lint here vs. back in Texas.  It really is so strange.  I have to empty the link tray with every single load.  What is the meaning of this?

Another thing different is the water.

When I was a kid my mom would sort clothes into colors.  I did that for a long time, but then I realized I didn't always have to sort by color.  Some days I'd just throw it all in there and it would be fine. All the colors stayed vibrant.  Now, since our move I am back to my mom's way.  I have to wash the whites separate.  Now,  I feel like I need to bleach our whites, but using bleach has never worked for me.  It seems like I'd pour bleach in and it just makes the stuff yellow.  Anyway, so now I am on a mission to figure out this white situation.  Do I just buy color safe bleach?  Should I try to bleach my whites and maybe since the water is different it will work this time?  Yep...these are my laundry issues.

Have you moved and noticed differences like these?

I am a laundry basket hoarder.  We have laundry baskets in all our bedrooms.  Since I have to carry the laundry up and down 2 flights of stairs I feel like I must be getting a workout.  I love my laundry baskets much more than I did in Texas.  I need them more than ever in a 2 story home.  If the laundry basket isn't there when I need it I could quite possibly have a melt down.  I'm not dramatic at all am I?

So, that concludes this edition of lets talk laundry.  I'll let you all know how my whites turn out! ;)

3 comments:

Red Stethoscope said...

I feel like I also had to bleach my whites when I lived in Baltimore, but not anywhere else. I'm guessing it has to do with mineral deposits in the water or something? Anyway, I like OxiClean instead of bleach too. I hear you on that weird yellow discoloration that happens with bleach. I do usually let stuff soak for a little while (30 min?) in the OxiClean before starting the cycle, though.

Love from Texas said...

HaHa I love this post because these are the things I think about... I've noticed a lot of the same changes since we moved here. Older homes maybe?

For my whites I've started washing my towels in 1 load, and James t-shirts and all white socks in another. Every so often I do this to them...

http://pinterest.com/pin/147633694005717293/

And that seems to help.

For the colors, I've started dark loads and "medium" loads. (I also used to never sort and just use cold!) For the dark, esp if I know something newer is in there I use those Shout color catcher sheets. Love them.

And I KNOW it's got to be something with the water (maybe hard water?) because my HAIR washes so differently here. I thought it'd just all the sudden changed textures (it's like super thick and easily tangled instead of silky smoothe), but when I went back home to Memmphis I washed my hair once and it was back to normal... I've read up on it and apparently hard water doesn't wash out soaps as well and has a high iron content. It's driving me crazy I want to get one of those central filter systems.

Jenn Getts said...

in Kansas we had a basement too and it made laundry seem like even more of a chore!!! having a radio is a brilliant idea...wish i had thought of it!!!

i'll save a bowl of soup for you :o)